Looking back on the historical conditions of the birth of the tableau as a modern form  which, in the Renaissance, begins to put an end to the reign of medieval polyptique, independent of the movements of thought which are competing for a mathematical vision of space and before the recovery of a "humanist" meaning of art  the idea of the tableau as an open window, the deeply distressing invention of Leone Battista Alberti in his De Pictura published in Florence in 1435, is a logical sudden appearance. It issues directly from an intractable fact: as Yves Depelsenaire writes, "we are fundamentally gazed upon beings; in the spectacle of the world, there is always an Other who in some way is looking at us; in other words, we are always a little framed in the skylight of the phantasm of the Other, with all that this suggests of discomfort, of embarrassment or of anguish." And I would add: of alienation. The window of the painting as a response to the gaze of the Other; our window for seeing, as opposed to the skylight of the Other in which we are seen; to see through the window in order to be seen no longer by the Other in his window.

Excerpt from the actual article - in the printed edition. For information about subscribing to Lacanian Ink click here. If you do not wish to subscribe but would like information about buying the issue containing this article click here.